34 “Kiddo”

"Why did you help me?"

I suddenly popped in the question. The serene silence between us was instantly dissolved.

He immediately stopped everything he was doing and turned to look at me. He raised an eyebrow.

"And why not?"

I shrugged as I propped my head onto my hand. "Aren't we strangers?"

He came closer then and stood across me. He too propped his head onto his hand.

"What's your name?" He asked all of the sudden.

I was a bit taken aback by the sudden question of identity. I almost blurted out my real name right there. Thank God, I had quickly recovered my composure.

'Right, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. Though I doubt he doesn't know of this crazy wife,' I thought to myself.

"Huang Li Fei."

"Jin Longwen," he replied. "Now we're not strangers."

I went speechless, while the man released his signature smirk, overbearing and cunning.

Looking at it, I didn't know from where the vexation within me had come, but it did trigger my wish to wipe off this man from the face of the earth right at this second.

"I'm serious," I said flatly. Though, the irritation within me was brewing, I remained poker face.

"Why did you save me?"

"There is no reason why I should not," he retorted nonchalantly.

"But, there is no reason you should either."

He raised an eyebrow and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Now, that is a sad way of thinking. Why should there be a solid reason for someone to help others?"

I tilted my head sideways before imitating the man's action by raising an eyebrow. "Now, that is an interesting way of thinking. In this day and age, why would anyone help someone for free?"

He snorted right away. He stretched out his hand and gave my forehead a flick. My mind went blank immediately.

"You little brat. What's with the negative way of thinking as if you've already tasted all the salt in this life?"

He clicked his tongue before going back to his cooking.

I blinked my eyes in puzzlement. "As far as I recall, I'm already 24."

He laughed derisively. "Well, congratulation, little one. But, I'm 32."

Then, he turned slightly to glance at me and snorted, "Kid."

"I didn't know this was a competition."

I saw him opening the pot and scooping the porridge into a bowl before putting in an egg. Lastly, he garnished it with chopped celery.

"No, it's not," he said then shoved the bowl in front of me. "Eat."

After that, he went to grab a portion for himself and sat down beside me at the counter.

"Here." He passed me a spoon.

I took it, but didn't directly touch the porridge. I didn't know what I was thinking at that time to make me put down the spoon and brought my hands together as I uttered, "Itadakimasu."

That was when I gasped and realized what I had just done. It seemed my habit as Airi had accidentally come out. I quickly earned myself a strange look from the person beside me.

I slowly turned to look at him and one could only see how awkward I was. My face might have been devoid of emotion, but my body gesture was honest.

"As far as I know, the Huang family is Chinese," he spoke.

Yes, they were but I was no Huang family member. Sadly, I couldn't say that. Although one thing was confirmed from this. He knew I was the crazy lady.

"Umm...yes."

He cocked his eyebrows. His expression was clearly asking, 'Then what's with the Japanese phrase?'

I didn't really know how to respond next. I very much wanted to tell him that it was none of his business. But, I was staying in his villa. It would be tactless of me to diss the host. So, I threw in a random excuse.

"I love watching Anime," I innocently replied.

The questioning look on his face disappeared, but the next thing he did was scrutinizing me from head to toe.

Then, he had the nerve to say, "Not surprising coming from a kid."

My eyebrows were pulled into a frown almost immediately. "Since when did a hobby become the benchmark in determining someone's age?"

And as if he didn't want to lose the argument, but didn't know what else to say, he popped in some implausible statement.

"It's still a cartoon," he said.

"And?"

"..."

"Have you watched it before?"

"No."

I nodded understandingly before patting his shoulder. "Then, don't judge."

Afterwards, I went back to eat the meal he had prepared. However, after a few mouthfuls of porridge, I still didn't sense any movement from the person beside me. So, I turned my head, only to catch him looking at me in a daze.

I frowned. "Are you not eating?"

My question successfully snapped him back to reality and he began to eat.

At that time, I didn't know, I had unknowingly switched our position and subconsciously treated the man like a child. Hence, the man's reaction.